The latest episode of the WWE’s Table for 3 series featured three major players from distinct wrestling eras: WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze, Ivory and Molly Holly.
In the half hour episode, the women told stories from their time in the business, recalling the highs and lows that came with being women in wrestling.
At the start, Alundra looked to set aside rumors of animosity, telling Molly that she’s always admired her style, calling her the “last real hope” of the previous era’s style of wrestling. Talking about their time together in WCW, Molly admitted to being arrogant, saying that she could have learned a lot more from Alundra if her attitude had been different.
Alundra admitted to being arrogant in her youth as well, but with Sensational Sherri, who she says “beat her ass” and objected to her showing more skin in the ring. She also had run-ins with The Fabulous Moolah, who she recalls yelling at her for lifting her up for an airplane spin.
When the discussion turned to Japan, Alundra recalled the three years she spent there with All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling. Molly told a story about managing The Great Muta in Japan, but says she never wrestled there, and doesn’t think she’d have been tough enough to handle it. Ivory revealed that she almost went to Japan twice, recalling seeing Alundra wrestling in the magazines and seeing it as “scary stuff.”
Alundra said wrestling in Japan was an extremely beneficial experience and made her into the wrestler she became, though the life was tough. She shared that, during her time in Japan, she lived with 50 women on a double-decker bus, essentially living in a seat for the entire three years.
Molly talked about starting her wrestling training in a backyard while living in trailer and working at Subway for minimum wage. She would go to a friend’s house and watch VHS tapes of Ricky Steamboat matches. Ivory recalled coming in to the WWE during Sable‘s era and praying that they wouldn’t try to make her into a Sable clone. When Molly arrived in the WWE, she thought, “This is the dance I remember!” She recalls toying with fans during a match with Molly, giving one the “call me!” gesture while off-camera, selling a move.
Ivory recalled how television tapings worked during her time, calling them 11 hour days. Talent would show up to the building and get in the ring for training. She said that Molly would always start things off by asking the other person what they want to work on, which she says is what wrestling should be about: making the other person look better than they are.
Ivory lambasted the “Diva” moniker, joking that she doesn’t even know how to sing. She thinks the word Diva describes a prissy woman, which doesn’t fit for women who “fall down for a living.”
When asked about her favorite moment as a Diva, Molly talked about her head shaving moment at WrestleMania 20. She recalled being told the Women’s Title wasn’t going to be defended on the show, as a pillow fight was going to be the only Divas match on the card. She bargained with the WWE, saying she’d put her hair on the line if they’d let her defend the title.
Ivory’s favorite moment was the Battle Royal that served as Gail Kim‘s WWE debut, because it gave every woman in the ring something to do. She recalls several “swerves” on moves, like when Lita attempted to pull off Poetry in Motion with Jacqueline, but found herself decked by Jackie instead.
Alundra recalled dating men outside of the wrestling business, sharing how difficult it was to educate them on the life, begging them to just “go with it.” Ivory told a story about a boyfriend crying on her couch while she was packing for a 10 day tour.
Molly brought up Alundra’s “trashing” of the Women’s Title on Nitro, asking her if it was something she was comfortable discussing. Alundra said that she was the first person to ask for the true story, rather than just asking about the belt. Molly recalls fans being most upset about it, while wrestlers focused on Alundra’s career motivations rather than the act itself.
Alundra said she now understands Vince McMahon‘s reasons for letting her go, as the company was going through scandals at the time and desperately needed to downsize. Thus, the women’s division was removed. Less than 24 hours later, she got a call from Eric Bischoff, who asked her if she still had the title. He proposed that she bring it on Nitro. As she was the breadwinner in her relationship, she felt she had to do what she had to do, so she agreed to it. She brought the title to Nitro, not knowing what the plan was. When Bischoff proposed dropping it in the trash, she agreed, as long as she would get it back so she could return it to the WWE. She says she never expected it to blow up the way it did and kick off the Monday Night War.
Ivory assured Alundra that she did justice to the title in doing that, because it made people care about the belt again.
The full Table for 3 episode is available now on the WWE Network.
